Sliding door cabinet



Feb. 5, 1963 c. H. WARLICK SLIDING DOOR CABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet l Q IQ INVENTOR.

wl l lul ul l l l l l 2' Gare/2607f VI a/V/ck Filed June 29, 1960 Robe/v J Pa/ch' Filed June 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m. M m mm m 6 w 0 M w 5 M y W w Robe/7 J Paid) ATTK 3,076,686 SLIDING DOOR CABINET Clarence H. Warlick, 131 N. 83rd E. Ave., Tulsa, Okla.

Filed June 29, 1960, =Ser. N0. 39,'570 -1 Claim. (Cl. 312w297) vision of sliding door cabinets having a front opening of maximum area and a usable interior of maximum volume, relative to the size of the cabinet.

Finally, it is an object of the present" invention to provide sliding door cabinets that will be relatively simple and inexpensive to construct, easy and dependable to opcrate with a minimum of effort, and rugged and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a ;consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompany ing drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a horizontal sectional viewof one embodiment of sliding door cabinet according to the present invention, with one end broken away;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational rear viewaof the embodiment of FIGURE 1; 7

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary elevational view from within the cabinet showing the door closing and locking mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken through the door and showing the door mounting means and track means;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical sectional view showing a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary enlarged view of a portion of FIGURE 5 adjacent the upper left thereof; and

FIGURE 7 is another enlarged fragment of FIGURE 5 from adjacent the lower right thereof.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, there is shown a sliding door cabinet indicated generally at 1 and having a front wall 3 which is broken away over most of its extent so as to provide a front opening for the cabinet. Within the cabinet, an arcuate, continuous member, for example of sheet metal, provides arear wall 5 and a pair of opposite end walls 7. Horizontal track means 9 extend across the front of the cabinet, along the outer sides of one end wall 7 and behind rear wall 5 so as to provide a front track run 11, a rear track run 13, and a transfer track section 15 shown at the left side of FIGURE 1. Track means 9 are in the form of superposed, vertically spaced apart channel members opening toward each other.

A flexible door 17 is provided which moves horizontally to open or close the front of the cabinet. Door 17 is comprised of a plurality of vertically extending slats 19 each pivotally interconnected at its vertical side edges to its immediately adjacent neighboring slats 19 for relative swinging movement about a plurality of vertically disposed, parallel, closely spaced axes. Thus, door 17 may twist and bend in horizontal planes about the vertical axes, but not otherwise. Each slat 19 is provided with rollers 21 at its opposite ends, the rollers 21 being mounted on the slats for rotation about vertical axes coincident with the vertical axes about which the flexible 3,075,686 Patented Feb. 5, 1963 door flexes and being disposed for rolling movement in track means 9.

Upon door closing movement, when the door slides across the front of the cabinet to the right as seen f in FIGURE 1 along front track'run 11, means are provided for releasably locking the door in closed position.

Specifically, a pair of oppositely extending detents 23Yis provided one adjacent the top and one adjacent the bottom of the end slat 19, and coil compression springs 25 continuously urge detents 23 away from each other. Inclined cam tracks 27 are provided which converge in the direction of door closing movement and are spaced from bumpers 29 at the top and bottom of the door to leave a gap between the highest ends of cam tracks 27 and bumpers 29. Upon door closing movement, with detents 23 urged away from each other by springs 25, the detents engage and ride upon cam tracks 27 and are thus pressed toward each other against the action of springs 25. However, upon riding over cam tracks 27, detents 23 spring back to their fully spaced apart position, where they are held between cam tracks 27 and bumpers 29. Thus, bumpers 29 not only limit door closing movement but also provide with cam tracks 27 latch assemblies for releasably retaining detents 23 in a closed-door position. a

Means are provided for releasing detents 23 from securement between tracks 27 and bumpers 29, comprising a rotatable yoke 31 mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis on the end slat 19 and turned by a handle 33 which extends outside the cabinet. A pair of pull cables 35 is mounted one on each of the opposite ends of yoke 31 for movement in opposite directions upon turning of handle 33. These pull cables are attached at their other ends to detents 23 simultaneously to withdraw detents 23 from their locking recesses so as to release the door for door opening movement.

Means are provided for continuously urging door 17 open, comprising a pair of vertical tracks 37 and 39. Track 37 is secured to cabinet 1, while track 39 is secured to the slat 19 at the end of door 17 opposite handle 33. A scissors linkage 41 includes a pair of bars 43 pivotally interconnected adjacent their midpoint-s for vertical swinging movement about a horizontal axis 45. A coil torsion spring 47 continuously urges bars 43 from their full line position in FIGURE 2 toward their broken line position in FIGURE 2. Spring 47 is coaxial with axis 45 and engages at each end with a different one of the bars 43. The upper ends of bars 43 ride freely vertically in tracks 37 and 39, while the lower ends of bars 43 are fixed to the lower ends of tracks 37 and 39. In this way, the ends of bars 43 associated with track 39 always remain in vertical alignment with each other, even though the ends of bars '43 associated with track 37 are spaced variable distances from the ends of bars 43 associated with track 39.

A modified form of the invention is shown in FIGURE 5, in which the same reference numerals, but bearing prime characters, are applied to the same parts as in FIG- URES 1 through 4, or their equivalents. While the embodiment of FIGURES 1 through 4 was a horizontally sliding door, the embodiment of FIGURES 5 through 7 is a vertically sliding door.

The embodiment of FIGURE 5 is characterized by a pair of sprockets 49 coaxial and horizontally spaced apart and each disposed in a vertical plane parallel to the vertical plane of the other. The outer peripheries of sprockets 49 are notched for the reception of the ends of the axles about which the slats 19' of door 17 rotate. Sprockets 49 are idler sprockets.

At the closed door position shown in the lower right of FIGURE 5 and in FIGURE 7, a latch 51 is provided which is spring-urged toward closed position and which is released by manipulation of the latch handle so as to release the door for door opening movement.

The door opening mechanism corresponding to the mechanism 3747 of the preceding embodiment is disposed behind rear wall and includes a vertical tube 53. Tube 53 is slotted at its front and has a piston 55 vertically slidable therein, piston 55 having a piston hook 57 which extends tothe front through the slot of tube 53.

A coil. tension'spring 59 continuously urges piston, 55

downward. Spring 59 is secured at one end to piston 55 and at its other end to the bottom of the cabinet.

Piston hook 57 on piston 55 engages in a socket 61 on that slat 19' which is at the opposite end of the door from slat that engages with latch 51. continuously urges door 17' open, that is, continuously urges the door to move in such a direction as to turn sprockets 49 counterclockwise as shown in FIGURE 5.

Thus, sprin 59 an arcuate path at an end of the cabinet and simultaneously behind the rear wall in the other direction, and a pivotal linkage disposed behind the door and including a pair of It is very important to note, however, that the tension of spring 59 is applied to the door only until socket 61 is about half way down the rear track run 13, or a little farther down than half way. By the time spring 59 no longer exerts door-opening movement, at least about half of the weight of the door is to the left of the axis of sprockets 49 as seen in FIGURE 5. This means that from then on, the portion of the door behind the rear wall 5 balances or more than balances the weight of the door on the other side of the axis of sprocket 49 as seen in FIG- URE 5. Hence, the door opening movement of the embodiment of FIGURES 5 through 7 is assisted first by a spring and then by gravity. By contrast, in the embodilinks 'pivotally interconnected intermediate their lengths in scissors relationship for movement relative to each other in a plane parallel to therear wall, the linkage-being mounted at one end on a rear end portion of the cabinet and at'the other end on the door, and means continuously thereby to move the door along said path.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

